Hello,

I have a Compaq Deskpro with Windows NT 4.0. I replaced the hard with some others one an connected the original back. Now i am not able find the Primary IDE in the CMOS Setup and CMOS is not Detecting hard disk automatically. Can some body suggest how to detect harddisk in CMOS.

Regards,
JK.

"I replaced the hard with some others one an connected the original back"

What does this mean? Did you put the original drive back as it was? Is the extra drive hooked up or not? Did you change any jumpers on the drive or drives?

This isn't an NT problem, so should be in General Hardware.

Anyway, after checking that all jumpers are correct and the correct settings in CMOS (try setting Primary MAster and Slave to Auto if poss. and BIOS should pick the problem up after POST). If not, you may need to specify the settings in CMOS yourself (the settings should be printed on the hard drive). Also, ensure all cables (power and IDE) are connected firmly.

If none of this works, try the hard disk in another computer. If the disk still doesn't work, you may need to consider getting a replacement hard disk - it may have been damaged - did you ground yourself while handling the disk? Have you knocked it or dropped it? Was the disk making strange noises while it was working? All three point to hard disk failure. If SMART is enabled in CMOS disable it (or enable it if it is disabled) to see if this makes any difference. If disabling SMART lets system work, it could be predicting a hard disk failure while SMART is enabled and this means that failure is imminent. HAd any SMART errors???

Summary:
Check Cables connected properly
Check jumpers are OK (should be set to Master for first disk, Slave for second)
Check CMOS settings again, try Auto, try manually entering parameters.
Listen to disk as you try to fire up system. If disk doesn't spin up, try a different disk. If this one does spin up, your disk is dead.
Also investigate SMART errors and other signs of failure
Get new disk if current one is dead.